FCC Acts To Quash Cell Phone Bill Shock

Cell phone bill shock is a nasty problem for many customers in the U.S. on a regular basis, and it's not much of a surprise when the industry is rife with nickel-and-dime practices for adding to your bill. But the FCC is now acting to defend against the outcome, and is demanding networks implement an alert system when your consumption of voice, data, SMS or—most expensively—roaming tariffs has gone over the limit. So far the FCC has launched a website tracking which network's alerting its customers, but by April 17, 2013 they have to alert customers for all four overcharge situations. It's the latest move by the FCC to wrestle the cell phone industry to play fair, something European regulators have been doing, including for bill shock, for a while.

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